The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance and more particularly to a domestic refrigerator having an automatic icemaker as well as both a fresh food compartment and a freezer compartment.
Refrigeration appliances for domestic use typically have a freezer compartment and a fresh food compartment. The freezer compartment is maintained at a temperature below 0.degree. C. while the fresh food compartment is maintained below room temperature but above 0.degree. C. In some refrigeration appliances it is known to provide automatic ice making equipment in which water supplied On a continuous basis to the refrigeration appliance is periodically dispensed into the ice making equipment to form ice cubes.
Typically these refrigeration appliances have a single evaporator and the icemaker is placed in the freezer compartment. The capacity of such icemakers are generally limited to around five pounds of ice per day since they rely on natural convection during the off cycle of the freezer and forced convection during the on cycle of the freezer to freeze the water to make ice. Since the icemaker relies on freezer air which is cooled by an evaporator, typically operated around -15.degree. F. (-26.degree. C.), it substantially increases the energy consumption of the unit.
This type and location of the icemaker, being in a freezer compartment, does not lend itself to an outside ice and water dispenser well for top mount or bottom mount freezer compartments. Thus, such an arrangement is generally provided only in side-by-side refrigerators. Also, since the water freezing in the icemaker is stationary, air trapped in the water and the impurities in the water result in producing ice cubes that are usually cloudy.
It would be advantageous if there were provided an ice making system which could have a greater capacity of ice making using lower energy consumption, which could make clear ice cubes and which could be provided in top mount or bottom mount combination refrigerator-freezer appliances.